The reactor building of Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr, southern Iran. The country's government says Western agents are behind attacks on its nuclear scientists. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

(Newser)
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One prominent nuclear scientist was killed and another wounded in separate attacks in Tehran today. Majid Shahriari, a member of the nuclear-engineering faculty at Tehran University, was killed when an attacker on a motorcycle attached a bomb to his car, AP reports. His colleague was injured in an identical attack in another part of Tehran.

Another Iranian nuclear professor was killed earlier this year when a motorcycle rigged with explosives was detonated outside his home. Iranian authorities, who claim Western governments seeking to thwart the country's nuclear ambitions are behind the attacks on nuclear scientists, issued a statement blaming today's attacks on "Zionist agents" and vowing revenge.